Hoped beyond hope
by Mizheekay
Summary: A dear friend dies, and Shino knows he must look out for Hinata since she's in a very vulnerable state even though she won't admit it. Shino hopes that maybe, just maybe Kiba knows what Shino knows now.


**Skott's notes:** something I wrote a month or so ago, yea. Forgot about it and now i'm posting it. I'm still working on other fanfictions I have that regards Naruto, but I enetered this contest for screenwriting and not to mention i'm working on some Harry Potter fanfiction too I've been overloaded with things so yea. It'll take time since I'm an idiot and just had to join the contest and I just had to write a Harry Potter fic because of inspiration, really should just think of one task and just finish it, but i'm working on and hopefully within a month or so I won't be overloaded with stuff. Not to mention my birthday's in two days and it's causing more stress than anything. Weird huh? But yea. Hope you enjoy this story..

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto, just playing with the characters here. Yupp.

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**O** n e - **S** h o t  
_Hoped beyond hope._

She didn't sugar coat it but instead perferred to come out and say it bluntly - like it had affected her in no way at all, like her feelings were numb and that she didn't care because it came in this line of work constantly. Oh, but he knew, just by looking in her eyes and the way she averted them so quickly and changed the subject albeit subtly. He knew she would never admit it, she was too strong of a shinobi now than she was back in the day to admit something like sadness out in public.

"He's dead," she said it like it was a fact that was written in some book about history, like it was something that she had guessed that would happen eventually and it was inevitable. "He died at the battle field, with honor."

He watched her calmly, and nodded his head slowly so that she knew that he heard. He didn't comment when she started walking aimlessly down the road, in the opposite direction of her home. He didn't ask when she stiffened and started walking with definite knowledge of where she wanted to go. He didn't do anything but follow calmly with ease. He felt she deserved this privacy away from others except him so he didn't bother to remind her that she needed to be home for the ceremony. He knew exactly where she was heading when it was clear they were going to their old training grounds.

He listened to her faint breathing and the heavy sigh that escaped her when she stopped right in front of the wooden post she had relentlessly pounded on in her youngers days in an effort to prove her father wrong. He stood still but watched carefully as she turned to face him, face determined but unsure all the same. His eyes followed her profile when she slid to the ground, leaning heavily on wooden post with a rueful smile on her face.

"He told me not to worry," she stated. "Told me everything was going to be fine and that he'd return."

He stood feeling his lips twitch in the same rueful smile but not quite. Her breathing slowly started to become faster, and he listened carefully because he had been taught to be observant and careful, as she sighed heavily and managed to calm her breathing once more. She looked up at hm and he was taken aback just how much emotion was running through her eyes, and he felt a little proud that she had allowed something so intimate to let him witness first hand the emotions she held back far too often.

"I'm worried," she whispered, her right hand idly thumbing her other hand that held a golden band on her fourth finger. "For Akamaru, hopefully he di-doesn't die from a broken heart."

Her smile was obviously strained and her eyes were gaurded once more, but he heard her mistake of words like she had shouted it out for him to hear. He felt as though a secret he had known and kept for years had been told to the one her was keeping it from. He nodded his head stifly, holding out his hand to help her to her feet. She accepted, like she always did even if she didn't want to because she felt obliged. He knew from her glossy eyes that she wished she could cry but she would never allow herself to. He reached up his other hand to place on her shoulder and gave a gently squeeze of understanding and her hand lifted to his hand to squeeze back.

He walked her back to her house and left quietly with a soft hug and whisper in her ear a genuine good luck. He ignored the glare her father sent her as he walked away, back to his own home until he had to return to sit amoung people whom both were close and distant family and friends of her family's. He sat in silence, not bothering to aknowledge people he had no respect for when they greeted him, even the people he did respect were ignored, all but his own father.

"Maybe now she'll be happy!" his father whispered softly for his ears only. "Being with the one she loves."

He inclined his head slightly, a frown marring his features although no one could notice with his high collar and all. He felt like he sat there foever, waiting for his friend, comrad and sister to come out. She looked beautiful, her white kimono was elegant, her hair was pinned up with a few strands of dark indago hair framing her pale pixie like face. He facial features gave nothing away on how she felt, she walked dwn the isle with poise, her head held high and her arm dutiful wound within her fathers own.

She stood stark still throughout the ceremony and just before the kiss she smiled a strained smile and a lone tear slipped from her eyes. He watched fascinated by the small droplet of salty water that made it's way down her cheek, outlining her chin before dropping off. People awed, probably thinking it was a tear of happiness, but he knew the truth.

Something clenched in his chest and that same something stung behind his eyes. When something slid down his own face, creating the same path that her own tear had traced he knew he was crying. And for the first time in a long while he felt immensly sad, and wallowed in it for he knew something that everyone else didn't.

_Hopefully he didn't die of a broken heart_. Was what she meant, but it wasn't about Akamaru that was for sure. He watched as she feigned happiness after the kiss and even still during the small gathering afterwards. As she hugged and accepted gifts from people, her smile was set in place but her eyes were guarded now more so than ever.

He approached slowly, and kept a careful eye out for certain people before he went forward and handed her a neatly wrapped gift. She accepted it with a smile and set it aside then she went to give him a hug.

"I'm sorry," he whispered in her ear gently. He felt her tense slightly but her hands gripped the back of his shirt ever so slightly. He felt her head nod against his chect and a wetness that suddenly made itself present. He gripped her back slightly to. "Be strong."

"I'll try," she said in a shuddery voice that was odd on her. He hadn't heard that tone of voice for years. Placing a chaste kiss to her temple her let her go and she clung her hands in front of her collarbone, nibbling on her bottom teeth. Giving her a breif nod he could only hope that she didn't die of a broken heart as well.

"Hinata!" the blonde boy said beside her, taking her pale hand in his own tanned hand, intertwining their fingers. "Aren't you going to thank Shino for the present?"

"Thank you, Shino," she said this softly, heavy lidden with emotion. He knew what she meant, her eyes expressed it all before they became more aware of their surrounding, turning her attention to other guests. Again he ignored the glare that come from her father and cousin, ignored the happiness people held for the most recent matrimony. Oh he loved her alright, he loved her and _him_, but more like friends whom border-lined siblings. And he knew they loved eachother, he knew the extent of _his_ love, he heard it every day. He just realized now how deep her love went for _him_ and he could only hope that she could cope with such a thing as his death.

He hoped beyond hope that she would become happy, and that _he_ had died not with regret but with fulfillment. He knew she wouldn't allow herself to cry for _him_ so that night as he lay on his bed, the flutter beneath his skin from his friends making themselves known he cried. A few tears escaping his eyes for the loss of his best friends.

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**Skott's notes:** I hope you enjoyed it, hope it made sense. ah. And I really hope I didn't have Shino too out of character.

Reveiw with that little purple button down there.


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